Jim Alden (1941 – 2004) painted the people and scenes of Port Townsend starting in the 1970s and found his place among other artists, poets, and entrepreneurs, with the Town Tavern as his hub. His beloved, highly collected paintings and eccentric personality made him quintessentially Port Townsend. This retrospective exhibition and accompanying catalogue written by curator Jenny Westdal and artist Stephen Yates give us an intimate perspective into an artist’s life lived on Water Street.

"We went outside to watch the ferry come in and smoke a joint or two," Al continued. "By the time we came back in the place was filling up and the band was tuning their instruments. In the corner of this otherwise dead little town, a heart started to beat. I could feel the veins of a community pump psychedelic blood and the room was breathing, in and out, with all the souls that were in it....by midnight the place was so full the doors were flung open and folks were dancing in the street, right out in the intersection, with Port Townsend's finest standing around watching."

---excerpt from Jim Alden: Town Painter about the atmosphere of the Town Tavern

Monday, February 25 - Press Preview: Journalists & photographers are invited to preview the show early in the week. Please let us know you are coming. Contact shelly@jchsmuseum.com, or call (360) 385-1003.

Thursday, February 28- A Member’s Preview will be held from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

The exhibition opens to the public on Friday, March 1 (the museum resumes weekday hours starting in March), and the museum will be FREE and open later hours until 8:00 p.m. for Port Townsend Art Walk on Saturday, March 2.

Town Painter Curator and JCHS Board President, Jenny Westdal, and artist Stephen Yates will be available to sign exhibition catalogues and talk about Alden and his work.